


is there somewhere you can meet me?

by coveredinthecolors



Series: glimpses of eternity [5]
Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, nothing explicit though, rated m for a bunch of references to smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 08:37:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9648314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coveredinthecolors/pseuds/coveredinthecolors
Summary: Sometimes, when life becomes too much, Caroline feels like she needs an escape. Thankfully, she knows someone who is more than happy to whisk her away and make her forget all of her worries.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Biana_Delacroix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biana_Delacroix/gifts).



> Warning: This story ignores all of the magical babies and is not Stefan friendly.

_“_ _I’m trying not to let it show,_

_that I don’t want to let this go_

_Is there somewhere you can meet me?”_

_Is There Somewhere – Halsey_

 

* * *

 

“No one ever told me that planes were this boring,” Caroline sighed as she looked outside the window and saw only darkness. No city lights as they flew over the ocean… Just nothing for miles and miles.

Klaus looked up from his sketchbook with an amused smile, he had been drawing her not-at-all subtly for the past few hours and she was half-convinced it was only to get a rise from her. She was definitely not going to give him that satisfaction.

“It shouldn’t be too long now,” he replied, his eyes scanning her face for more details before returning to the sketch and adding more traces. She wondered if he was capturing the way her nostrils flared or the angry look she was directing at him.

They were sitting across from each other in his private plane, just a table between them… She had made him promise to stay hundreds of miles away, to be out of her life for good, but less than 24 hours ago she had texted him, had asked him to take her away. Somewhere far from Mystic Fall and her empty house, far from her friends’ thoughtlessness. Somewhere far away from the smell of smoke that had lingered on her clothes after her mother’s last words had been burnt.

She had needed space and time to heal and no one at home had given her that, so she’d decided to seek it somewhere else, with someone else.

Caroline was ignoring all the implications of her actions for now. She didn’t want to look into what it meant that she had asked for his help or that he had dropped everything to meet her. She didn’t care that she trusted him enough to not even ask where they were going. She just needed to feel like she could breathe and Klaus had always had this way of making her feel alive… She wouldn’t apologize for doing what she needed to do to fix herself back up.

He had been right, it was a little over an hour late before one of his employees came to inform them that the plane would soon be landing and she sighed in relief at that and at that fact that Klaus finally set his sketchbook down. Part of her was dying to take a look at the drawings, but she forced herself not to acknowledge the offending object, looking out the window instead, admiring the city lights that grew closer and closer.

Caroline still had no idea where he’d taken her as she made her way out of the plane. It was chilly outside, even though it was summer, the wind dancing with her hair. There were no clues as to where they were in that airport runaway.

But Klaus finally felt like it was time to end the mystery as he said from right behind her, “Welcome to Prague, sweetheart.”

She frowned at that. She had expected Paris or Rome, having ruled out Tokyo because that would’ve been a much longer flight. It seemed like something he would do, something that would make her lose a few nights of sleep trying to figure out the exact intentions behind his actions… But Prague? She couldn’t understand that.

If he sensed her confusion, he did not comment on it, simply walking to the car that was waiting for them and opening the door for her. She didn’t ask him about it in the drive to the hotel – which was as opulent and elegant as she’d thought it would be.

Their suite was enormous, offering the most marvellous view of the city from its windows and Caroline felt drawn to the sight, walking closer to it. “It’s beautiful,” she mused, a smile on her face as the excitement of exploring somewhere new washed over her.

“Very beautiful.” Klaus agreed, again standing right behind her, his breath caressing her ear, though he did not touch her. He did not look out the window either, but at her. She wasn’t sure if it was his cheesy line or the proximity their bodies were, reminding her of what had happened the last time they’d been this close, but she felt her cheeks burning. His nose brushed against her earlobe, just the lightest of touches, but a shiver ran down her spine as the most impure thoughts invaded her mind. She closed her eyes, waiting for the moment she’d feel his lips against her neck, bracing herself for the warmth of his hands on her waist, but - “There are two bedrooms,” he informed her suddenly in a half-whisper, still standing close as he waited for her response.

Caroline knew what he was doing, knew that he was offering her an out. She could stay, could let his hands start to wander and share his bed. Or she could go, she could say goodnight and close that door between them that night.

Perhaps it made her a coward, but the words were out of her mouth before she had really thought it through. “I’ll take the one on the right,” she said and, without meeting his eyes, she took her suitcase into her room, shutting the door behind her.

It was only when she was getting her pyjamas that she remembered there had been a reason why she had packed all of her lacy underwear.

The next morning none of them commented on it, acting as close to normal as possible considering that eating breakfast together was something very different from all their previous exchanges, but over omelettes and coffee they found their usual balance of flirting and exasperated eye-rolls, and by the time they were heading out of the hotel, any remaining traces of awkwardness had disappeared.

Walking through the streets aimlessly wasn’t quite what Caroline was used to and part of her was cursing herself for not having planned a detailed, color-coded itinerary last night, but Klaus told her repeatedly that this was the best way to explore the city, to find its little secrets and she could see his point.

They were in the city’s Old Town and everything seemed so enchanting to her that she didn’t mind getting lost in those narrow streets, walking side by side with him. Klaus would tell her stories that had happened in the places they passed by, bits and pieces about the things he had done and the people he had met. And she listened, letting his voice paint her a picture of how the town used to be.

They stopped for lunch and she was completely shocked by the prices on the menus until he explained to her how much the Czech koruna was actually worth – and when she began to try and convert the prices to dollars, just to get an idea of how much Klaus was spending on this trip, he quickly caught onto what she was doing and told her not to worry about it, saying that he would give her tips on how to invest her money later, so that she wouldn’t have to be concerned with such matters for the rest of eternity.

It felt strange to talk about forever, but it was so easy to feel like a vampire when she was around him. She didn’t have to hide and pretend to be something else all of the time. It was refreshing.

Caroline wondered if he felt like that about her as well… Like he didn’t have to wear the villainous mask all the time, like he could just be the art nerd who wouldn’t shut up about the architecture and who practically dragged her to a Mucha exhibition, whispering the details about each and every painting they saw. And she was so close to mocking him for it, but she found herself unwilling to do so. Did he have anyone he could talk to like this? Did anyone ever listen and pay attention to the passion in his voice as he described the colours and the shapes and techniques?

She did. She listened and she _saw_ him. She saw the vicious, paranoid man and all his megalomania, but she saw the artist too. The man who had a penchant for beautiful things, the one who had been willing to let go of his revenge for her. No one had ever been willing to let go of anything for her.

So Caroline let him talk, let him share, until they were walking on Charles Bridge and the sun was setting, making the river turn orange and pink as it reflected the sky. Then it was her turn.

“My mom would’ve loved it here,” was all she said for a while, avoiding his gaze, though she could feel it on her as she observed the ducks and swans below them. “I’d always known that I’d spend forever without her, but I guess I just thought we’d have more time… And now it’s just hard to think that when I say that I’ll never see her again, I really mean ‘never’. It’s not fair.”

“It isn’t,” he agreed. “You’ll never forget her, Caroline. No matter how many centuries go by, she’ll never fade from your mind, but this pain you are feeling will. Time can heal all wounds, love, and you have nothing but time.”

She wasn’t sure how he always knew the right thing to say, but she didn’t care. She just let his words sooth her worries while they rested in a comfortable silence.

They had dinner in their hotel room, laughing and sipping wine… It took her awhile to notice that she felt happy, genuinely happy. Which was why she almost started arguing with him when he suggested she went to sleep after her fourth yawn, but she was dying to take a shower, so she said goodnight and went to her bedroom.

However, - and maybe it was the wine – when she was getting dressed, it occurred to her that the night didn’t have to end just yet and Caroline traded her cotton shorts and tank top for a set of black, lacy lingerie. Mustering up more courage than she was actually feeling, she made her way to his room.

He was still taking a shower, but she just waited there, knowing that he’d probably heard her come in and she kept on debating whether she should lie on the bed or keep standing, trying to figure out what to do with her arms.

She ended up staring out the window, the view just as gorgeous as the one in her room or in the common area. The night sky and the silhouette of the town against it made her breathe and calm down, though her heart was still ringing loud in her ears when the bathroom door was finally opened.

“Caroline,” he breathed so low that she wouldn’t have heard him without her vampire abilities.

She turned around to face him, a sly smile on her face as she took in his bare torso, his lower half wrapped in a towel. And she just knew that he had done it only to provoke her, to smirk at her when her eyes inevitably wandered… He would’ve won if it wasn’t for her own outfit, which had made his eyes darken as he drank her in, gaze dropping to appreciate her whole body. Twice.

Not much was said coherently after that – just sighs and gasps and each other’s names being swallowed by kisses and moans. Their bodies took and gave in a way that was still very passionate, but so different than the desperate release they’d craved in the woods, not so frantic and instinctual, but softer and more caring.

It was almost dawn when their caresses became lazier, trying to sooth and assure rather than arouse. It was then, when her back was pressed against his front, that Caroline finally asked. “Why Prague? Why- Why not Paris or-”

“Or Rome or Tokyo?” he asked playfully, pressing a soft kiss on her shoulder. “Prague is a beautiful city. I’ve always loved it here and I thought you would, too. I didn’t take you to Rome, because when I _do_ take you to Italy,” there was such certainty in his voice that she didn’t even open her mouth to contradict him, “we are visiting more than just that city. It’s one of my favourite countries and I intend to show every last bit of it to you. I ruled it out since I didn’t know how long we’d be staying away. Tokyo doesn’t have the sights I wanted to show to you and I thought that perhaps you’d dislike me taking you to the other side of the planet. I stand by it now that I’ve seen how much you hated a twelve-hours flight. As for Paris – well, we both know you’re not ready for Paris yet, love.”

Caroline wanted to ask him what he’d meant by that, but Klaus started to run his fingers through her hair and whispered for her to get some sleep. Perhaps it wasn’t the time for her to get that answer, perhaps she wasn’t ready to hear what he was going to say should she question him about it. So she didn’t.

They stayed in Prague for another week, during which Caroline made sure they went to all the touristic spots, while Klaus tried to take her to see other unknown sights, the ones that weren’t crowded with irritating tourists, as he repeatedly told her. But, eventually, her phone had too many unanswered text messages and each was a reminder of what she had left behind, of what she had to return to.

So, one morning, she braced herself for the look on his face when she told him that it was time they went back, wondering if he knew how much he had done for her and how she could never repay him for that week and all of those smiles. He’d simply pressed his lips onto a thin line and nodded. By the time night fell, they were already on the plane.

“Ugh, next time we’re going somewhere closer.” Caroline complained, stretching as they walked out of the plane, having spent most of the flight snuggled beside Klaus as they watched movies.

She only realized what her choice of words implied when Klaus smirked at her, leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek before saying, “Until next time, sweetheart.”

 

* * *

 

The ‘next time’ happened two years after they’d said goodbye at the Richmond airport, and it wasn’t for anywhere closer. In fact, the flight was just as long as the one to Prague, though it felt much longer. Because Klaus wouldn’t talk to her, would barely even look in her direction.

He had met her at Richmond, had greeted her a little more formally than usual, which she had ignored, because he had wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked together, but he’d let go of her as soon as they were alone. He took his usual place across from her, but did not tease her by drawing her face on his sketchbook and gave her short, clipped answers when she had tried to spur a conversation.

Right. So there was no way he didn’t know about her engagement to Stefan.

It made her blood boil, though, that Klaus felt like he could be mad at her for it. It was none of his business, he didn’t have a claim on her. Besides, it was over now anyway. And she had called _him_ to take her away. If he was going to act like such a child about it, then perhaps he should’ve said no to the trip.

Caroline needed a distraction. She wanted to have fun and explore new places and let him take her mind off of the events of the past years. She wanted him to help her forget, to help her feel like herself again after she’d let Stefan take so many pieces away from her.

She stared at him for a few seconds, but he didn’t look up from his phone to meet her gaze and she sighed loudly, resting her head against the wall and closing her eyes. Perhaps after they landed he’d be more open to talking or she could yell at him to stop being a jerk, but she was too tired for it now.

She would just sleep her way through this silent nightmare and-

Her eyes flew open as she felt his fingers brushing against her own over the table. His eyes were staring at their hands, and he just let them touch for a few moments before his fingertips began to dance across the back of her left hand, his thumb caressing the place where her fourth finger met her knuckle.

Caroline pulled her hand away as if he had burnt her, closing her eyes again, hoping that sleep wouldn’t take too long to come.

She woke up hours later with warm hands gently shaking her, a soft voice saying, “Wake up, sweetheart. We’ve landed.”

Klaus was looking at her with an apologetic smile on his face, his eyes telling her that he was indeed sorry, but she was grumpy when she woke up and he had been an ass, so she just bitterly said, “And he speaks…”

She got to her feet and moved around him to get out of the plane, immediately regretting her hasty decision as the cold air shocked harshly against her warm skin. Vampires didn’t really feel cold, but it was still rather uncomfortable and it made her mutter a thank you to Klaus when he handed her a coat. South Hemisphere, then, since summer had just begun for her.

“Where are we?”

She asked as they began walking, Klaus putting his arm around her waist, looking at her as if he was scared that she would push him away, but it was cold and he felt warm and comfortable… So she let him.

“La Paz,” he replied easily, “but we won’t be staying here. We’ll go to a cabin I own in the mountains.”

And indeed, half an hour later they were inside a helicopter to take them to Klaus’s house. The sights were breath-taking and Caroline found herself gasping with excitement as she looked at the snowy silhouette of the mountains all around them. Even he was smiling, though perhaps that had to do with her reaction. He had deeply enjoying seeing the look on her face when she tried new things or saw something beautiful the last time. Apparently some things didn’t change.

When they landed, she understood why they had needed the helicopter. The cottage was surrounded by the mountains, a half-frozen lake that seemed to go on for miles in front of it. The ground was covered in slippery ice, but it did make the scenario all the more impressive. It was lovely and peaceful. The kind of place where you would go to spend lazy days in front of the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate and stealing kisses… She wondered why Klaus had chosen this place.

The pilot took off after he had given him some what was no doubt a very generous tip, and then it was just the two of them. All alone when he had barely even talked to her all day.

“Come, let’s get inside,” he said and she followed him, careful not to fall down, because that would be too embarrassing and she wanted to stay on her high horse so she could berate at him a little.

Caroline didn’t even wait for him to open the door before she started. “So, how is this going to work? Are you going to talk to me or we’ll have to keep silent for as long as we’re here?”

He sighed as he let her in and she examined the inside. The house was small, but very well furnished and elegant, even though it was extremely cosy in a way that made her want to lie down on the couch with a blanket and stay there for a long time. The windows were large and allowed them to see the mountains on one side and the lake on the other. She could grow to love the solitude for this place.

“I apologize for my behaviour earlier, Caroline. I should’ve prepared myself for seeing you and-“

“And what?” she demanded, “I called you because I wanted an escape, Klaus, not because I wanted you to judge me. And we aren’t even… You don’t get to be mad at me for this.”

Klaus nodded, looking calm – too calm – and his voice was cold when he said, “You told me you had plans, that there were things you wanted to do, love. And I left because I wanted you to have that, because you should be able to figure out the things you love and how to live… I let you go. Do you understand what that was like for me, love? Do you think I give up what’s mine so easily?” he shook his head, “But you are so young. It was only fair that you could grow and understand who you are, who you are meant to be. I wouldn’t risk ruining that for you. But I let you go so I wouldn’t break you… And you went and cut pieces of yourself to fit into what he wanted you to be, expected you to be. The perfect little baby vampire, acting like she was human, wasting the beginning of her eternity in someone else’s dream of a white-picket-fenced life. He could never understand you. He could never deserve you.”

He paused, looking at her, eyes a little warmer as he continued, though hers were still tearing up. “Perhaps I don’t deserve you either, but at least I’m aware of that. I wouldn’t have made you put me up on a pedestal; I wouldn’t have made you change to fit my needs. I’m angry with him, sweetheart, for making you feel like you weren’t good enough, not at you.”

“Then why wouldn’t you even look at me?” she asked, her voice breaking and she hated it, hated to be so insecure, hated that Klaus was so right about it all.

“Because every time I look at you, I can see the pieces that are missing and it makes not going after him and making him pay for it extremely hard.”

It had been foolish of her to think that Klaus would have dropped it, that he wouldn’t have told her what he thought about it. And his speech was so full of possessiveness and jealousy… Perhaps it wasn’t healthy, but it felt good to have someone who cared that deeply, someone who wanted her like that.

She had loved Stefan at some point. And then their relationship had become a project of hers, something that required her full energy to work, because he wouldn’t give any of his, but part of her saw it as a challenge. He would do something wrong and she would fix it. Caroline had never liked to fail, so she just became more and more invested in it and no matter how many problems came up, she would find a solution to make it work. She didn’t even realize that fulfilling his needs became her life, that she had to give up on things for him over and over, while he never lifted a finger for her.

But on her wedding day, she found herself crying tears that weren’t of joy and dread settled on her stomach at the thought of going through with the ceremony. It had hurt to step out of her wedding gown and to write that note, but taking off her engagement ring had felt like freedom. She would never miss the weight of it against her finger and the way it somehow crushed her entire soul. She would never regret jumping off that window.

Klaus reached out to dry the stubborn tears that insisted on rolling down her cheeks, but she just pulled him into a hug, burying her face in the crook of his neck in the seconds that took for him to respond and wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.

Later, the comforting caresses slowly turned into something else, something _more._ And if she’d been expecting soft, tender kisses, she would’ve been mistaken, because Klaus captured her lips with hunger, his touches that were desperate and bruising and _right_. Like his desire for her was driving him insane and he just needed to have her. It made a fire ignite inside of her, burning everything in its path as she gave just as good as she got.

And when he fucked her fast and rough, Caroline could almost feel the wolf beneath his skin, that beast dying to get out, to claim her. She could sense his need for her loyalty, for her to give herself to him fully, permanently. Maybe she couldn’t do that now, but that didn’t meant that she hadn’t enjoyed how he whispered again and again as he shattered inside her – “Mine.”

Caroline had to bite her tongue to keep her from telling him that she was indeed his.

“You’re still not ready for Paris, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Klaus told her cheekily when she had asked him why he’d chosen the Andes, but she rolled her eyes impatiently at him, so he continued. “It is quiet here. I spent some years living in this cabin when I was running from Mikael. My siblings were daggered and I had to keep a low profile so he wouldn’t find me. It was… lonely, I suppose. I never brought anyone here and I thought it was time to create some not so lonely memories in this place.”

She smiled brightly at him before resting her head against his chest. She felt like the world outside could end and she wouldn’t care, as long as she had his body to heat hers, his voice to sooth her wounds. “The story you told me about the hummingbird… Was it when you were living here?”

He nodded, his fingers caressing her hair. “Yes. I had been alone for quite awhile, only going to a nearby village to feed, though I never stayed long. And when I saw it, I caught myself wondering what it’d be like to be human. A stupid thought.”

“Indeed,” she agreed and he gave her a questioning look. “If you were human, then we wouldn’t be here now.”

That, Klaus thought, was an excellent point.

 

* * *

  

It had taken every bit of her strength to tell him it was time to leave that cabin, to burst the perfect bubble they’d been living in for weeks, but she couldn’t hide forever. It had been time to decide what she would do with her life since Mystic Falls had been left behind for good.

After parting ways, Caroline had travelled around America on her own, always sending him postcards of her favourite places, occasionally texting or calling him to tell him about her adventures, to tell him how she had enjoyed the sun in Miami, but that it’d been New York’s busy life that had captured her heart. It never occurred to her not telling that was where she was moving, or about her classes at NYU. She’d even spend a very long time telling him about how she had to start feeding on humans since the hospitals had great security or about the vampires she had befriended in town and how it felt to finally be accepted by who she was.

The only thing she would never tell him about was her French class.

She wouldn’t complain about how difficult the pronunciation was or how she couldn’t get the verbs right and wouldn’t even tell him about the annoying girl with the high-pitched voice and condescending smile that she directed at Caroline whenever she got something wrong.

It took her years to feel like she truly knew the language, and almost a decade had gone by since she’d last seen him before she felt completely satisfied with her abilities.

Caroline still hesitated to tell him they’d be travelling again, hesitated to say that she had the destination in mind and that the reason behind their trip wasn’t because she wanted to escape from something… She just wanted him.

And part of her feared that he would say no to Paris, that he would claim that she wasn’t ready yet and it was that thought that made her angry enough to hit ‘send’ on the text that informed him the day she would like to depart and where they’d be going.

Her anger immediately died down as anxiety took over and she kept staring at her phone like a bloody teenager for the three minutes that it took him to text her back, saying that he was looking forward to it.

They spent most of the flight talking and flirting, Klaus playing with her hand over the table as they drank champagne and she tried to make him roll his eyes by listing all of the touristic things they would be doing while they were in the city. And then he made her laugh over the time Kol and him had broken into the Louvre, making her shake her head in disapproval when he wondered out loud if he could do it again now that the security was better.

It was light and fun and easy, so different from the heavy emotional load of their previous trips.

And when they landed, they walked with their arms intertwined till the car. This wasn’t the strangeness of Prague, when they wouldn’t touch each other in public, nor was it the possessive arm around her waist at the Andes. There was this sense familiarity in how they carried themselves, their synchrony and the secrets that were exchanged just by the way the looked at each other. No one would look at them and say they hadn’t seen each other in ten years.

But they hadn’t. There was still a lot to find about each other, as proven by the look of utter surprise on Klaus’s face when Caroline talked to the driver before he could, her accent perfect. He was impressed and it made her smirk. There had been a certain pride in his eyes right before they’d darkened, a low growl falling from his lips. It made sitting still during the ride to his penthouse very difficult as she wondered how French would sound in his tongue as he whispered the filthiest things in her ear once they were alone.

For that reaction of his alone, keeping that secret had been totally worth it.

And she’d thought so again when they had barely walked inside the apartment and she’d found herself pressed against the wall, his body covering hers as his lips and teeth played with the skin of her neck.

Caroline had missed him, had missed the way of his hands cupping her breasts, the way he filled her and made her forget everything that wasn’t his name. She loved getting lost in his touches.

And when he fucked her, she forgot they weren’t in the mountains, forgot that she wasn’t supposed to scream for him until she was hoarse, but how could she care about the neighbours when he was making her feel like this?

It became hard to leave the apartment, they were too busy making up for the years apart and that frenzy, that need for each other seemed to be endless. Days went by before they finally started exploring the city.

They did all the things she wanted to do, enjoyed the view from the Eiffel Tower, took pictures at the Arc de Triomphe, visited the crowded Louvre, where she felt rather let down by the Mona Lisa and just let Klaus tell her about the other paintings… But it was almost a week later, walking by the Seine that she saw something different in his eyes.

It had been such a subtle, gradual change that perhaps she wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t looked at the exact right moment.

Those were the eyes of a man in love.

Caroline wondered what her own eyes looked like. Was it love that had grown inside of her, that made her long for his presence and text him at the end of each day? Was it love that had made her trust him, that had made her feel at home when she was next to him, no matter where they were?

Yes, perhaps it was.

And he knew it, knew that her heart was devoted to him just like his was for her. Even if she wasn’t ready for forever yet. But he knew that too, and he would wait.

Caroline understood it right in that moment why he had claimed she hadn’t been ready for this city. And he had been right. It would’ve scared her before, this love and the meaning of this town.

Because Paris was a reminder. Paris was a promise – however long it takes.

 

* * *

 

The next time they met wasn’t in a trip and Klaus promised her many times that it had been a total coincidence, though his devious eyes told her a very different story. And even if they didn’t – how could she believe that it had been fate that made her bump into him when she was returning from work in a crowded street in New York and not some elaborate plan created by the hybrid himself?

“What are you doing here?” she had asked after recognizing the strong hands that had held her so she wouldn’t fall. “I think I would remember you saying something about a visit.”

He smirked, ignoring the people that were looking annoyed at how they were just standing in the middle of the sidewalk. “I have a meeting with some old acquaintances of mine, I didn’t want to impose my presence to you since it’s only been a few months. But what a happy coincidence, sweetheart. Perhaps you’d allow me to take you to dinner tonight? My hotel has a great restaurant, I’m told.”

Caroline snorted and his face somehow became smugger. That would never stop annoying her, apparently, so she did her best to act in a way he wasn’t expecting, hoping to surprise him. If only to interfere with whatever plans he had made already.

“Fine,” she said, “I’ll have dinner with you, but at my place. Where you can stay for as long as you’re in town. It’s only fair since you let me stay at your houses when we’re away.”

That did seem to surprise him, and, though he recovered quickly, she counted it as victory. “Thank you, sweetheart, I would love to.”

The look on his face when she made him take the subway, though… She would cherish it for the rest of her immortal life.

Her apartment was small, but it was comfortable and functional and she was proud of it. It was the first place that had been truly hers and she was very attached to it. Klaus seemed to understand that as he looked around, his eyes pausing on a few objects he recognized – souvenirs from their trips, a picture he’d taken of her in Paris and, resting on the wall, a painting he had given to her of the cabin.

Caroline was looking at it too, cheeks pinking up and he wasn’t sure if it was because she was remembering just how they’d spent most of their time in that place or because she thought she was revealing too much by letting him know how she had valued the gift. Either way, it made him grin right before he pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

They ended up drinking wine as she cooked them dinner – it was just pasta, because her abilities in the kitchen were rather lacking – and swiftly fell back into that easiness they had found in Paris, the laughter filling her apartment as they talked about everything and nothing.

The next days, they lived such a _domestic_ routine that it completely surprised her. Her alarm would go off and they’d both groan, almost regretting having stayed up late exhausting each other, but they would both get up and he would make her coffee while she took a shower (Caroline had kicked him out of the bathroom the first time he’d tried to join her, claiming he wasn’t allowed to make her late). They’d eat breakfast and then say goodbye with a kiss on the cheek as she left for work and he went to his meetings. And at night, she’d come home to him cooking her dinner or having ordered takeout for them, and they’d tell one another about their days and their plans, until they made it to her bed and found new and lovelier ways of driving each other to exhaustion.

She knew it wasn’t a glimpse into what their lives would be if – _when_ , really – she got together with him. That would entail a much less human life and learning to deal with the different monsters in this world as she ruled over them, because Klaus had told her many times, in many different ways that she was to become his queen. But it still felt nice to have him in what her life was now, to share her reality with him for a little while… She would miss him when he was gone.

Caroline wondered if that was his plan.

And indeed, the day he told her that he would be returning to New Orleans made her insides feel heavy. Was that how he felt when she’d tell him it was time to end their trips?

She prepared herself as best as she could to watch him leave, but there was still a sad smile on her face when he kissed her a final time, a car already waiting for him downstairs. He turned to leave, but something made her unable to let it go just then.

“Klaus,” Caroline called in a soft voice and he froze in his place, already outside her apartment, the door half-closed as he held the knob.

His eyes sparked as if he’d guessed the reason why she had called his name, “Yes, sweetheart?”

She sighed, “You never even checked yourself into a hotel here in New York, had you?”

His lips twitched. “Perhaps.”

He was going to finish closing the door, but – “Klaus?” she called again, and he gave her a questioning look, amusement all over his features, “How about Tokyo? For next time.”

Klaus gave her his smuggest smirk, “Tokyo sounds great, love.”

 

* * *

 

Caroline asked him to meet her in Vancouver so they could go together to Tokyo. He was fairly certain that she had planned her tour through the Americas - that had lasted the better part of the five years since he’d last seen her - to end there just because the flight to Japan wouldn’t be too terribly long.

But she greeted him with such a warm, happy smile that he forgot to mock her about it. The distracting lingerie she was wearing when she opened the door of her hotel room didn’t help him keep his focus either.

The flight was pleasant and she spent it telling him about the places she’d been, the things she’d seen and eaten and learned. There was a spark in her eyes that he hoped would never fade out.

She teased him by telling him the size of the bikinis she’d worn in Rio, made him jealous as she talked about the man who had taught her tango in Buenos Aires, and Klaus laughed as she spoke of how skiing in Bariloche had totally not been her thing – “It’s not funny!” she protested, “I would’ve died if I weren’t a vampire.”

Caroline threw the first thing she saw – her phone – at his face when he continued to laugh. He caught it before it could hit him, and she muttered under her breath about how annoying Original Hybrids were. He promised to make it up to her with his head between her thighs. She did not protest at all.

Tokyo made her heart race. There was so much to look at everywhere, so much to take in. The colourful signs, bright ads and impressive buildings… The city felt new, refreshing. A taste of the future.

She smiled at him as they made their way to the hotel, but as always, he was more focused on her than on the view. She wondered if he saw these trips of theirs as a taste of _their_ future.

He didn’t hide the way he had looked at her in Paris anymore. Behind his eyes she could see the full depth of his affections for her, like and endless pit where she got lost every time. She hoped he could see that in her eyes as well, because she wasn’t ready to voice it yet. Perhaps neither was he.

From their hotel room to the parks and gardens that made her almost forget the city where she was in, they had fun in Tokyo. She would eat whatever Klaus ordered for her, trusting it not to be something that would weird her out, but never having the guts to ask him what it was, and he would smirk victoriously at how she always loved his choices. Then Caroline would pick their itinerary for the day and drag him along to whatever it was she wanted to do.

And this time it took her longer to tell him that it was time for them to go back to their lives separately. She had remembered how it’d hurt to watch him leave her apartment, how it had seemed so very empty without his laugh echoing through it. She didn’t want to make him feel like that again, but she was worried that if she didn’t leave soon, she wouldn’t be brave enough to leave at all. Forever was a long time, and she wanted to be sure about it. She didn’t feel sure about it in that moment.

So she winced as she told him she wanted to leave, kissing him before he had the chance to show any signs of sadness and they enjoyed that last night in each other’s company. Klaus had a tendency of wanting to engrave himself in her skin whenever they were to be parted and Caroline certainly wouldn’t suffer alone.

“Do you have any plans?” he asked her once their breathings were shallow and her head was resting on his chest.

He didn’t have to look at her to see the confused look in her face. “For what?”

He knew that she didn’t have to look at _him_ to know that he was smirking. “For where we’re meeting next.”

Caroline snuggled closer to him, intertwining their legs as she took a moment to think. Concentrating was hard when his thumb was caressing her hips, his fingers sprawled across her skin, nearly touching the curve of her arse.

“I was thinking Italy,” she told him at last and his hands stilled. “If that’s okay with you.”

By the long, possessive kiss he gave her, she assumed that he was more than okay with the idea.

 

* * *

 

Two decades went by before Caroline asked him to meet her again. He had kept himself updated on her trips, being glad to see that she didn’t take a single step inside Italian territory and doing his best not to kill the companions who would share her bed for longer than a few weeks, personally offended at how they dared to believe they could ever mean anything to her. She was _his_. He couldn’t wait for the world to finally know that.

Caroline was in London when she called him, telling him that she would meet him in Rome, but he had meant it when he’d said that he wanted to be the one to show every last bit of the country to her. He wanted to be with her since the moment she landed.

So he met her at Heathrow Airport, showing a little bit of the possessiveness that he’d displayed on their trip to La Paz, but she’d been expecting that after how long they’d spent apart. He let her know how much he’d missed her in the two hours and a half that it took them to get to Rome.

She understood why he loved it so much from her first glimpses of the town. Old and new contrasted beautifully, merging into something unique. It was ancient, older than even he was, but it stood tall, changing, evolving… She found herself admiring that persistence.

Klaus’s house on the outskirts of the city was beautiful. There windows everywhere, opened in the hopes to let any existing breeze in, so that it could soften the harshness of the Mediterranean summer air. The rooms upstairs had air conditioners, to which she’d be forever thankful.

They spent days and days exploring the city, admiring the ruins, get in lost in the history that surrounded them. The Colosseum was impressive and Klaus told her the bloodiest histories he’d ever heard about the place. He couldn’t shut up about the architecture and the paintings at the Vatican. Caroline did her best to listen to everything he was saying instead of just tuning out and nodding at the appropriate times.

She grew tired of churches and cathedrals and basilicas by the end of the week – and, no, Klaus, she wasn’t interested in knowing what was the difference between them, thank you – so they went across the Tiber to explore a different part of the town, with its cobblestoned streets and ochre buildings. It was just as lovely, she thought as they sat at the tables set outside a bar to enjoy the sunset while sipping wine.

They spent another two weeks in Rome and then they were on the move again.

Caroline suffered through a _very_ detailed lesson on Renaissance art in Florence, they ate truffles in Turin and the most delicious pizza in Naples, navigated the Venice canals in gondolas and she amused him in Verona by telling him that she’d never enjoyed Romeo and Juliet, because all could’ve been solved with a little more planning on their part.

But it was in Milan that he said – “We’ve done Rome, Paris and Tokyo… Perhaps it’s time for a new list, sweetheart.”

They were lying in bed, facing each other and she just smiled at him. “Well, there _are_ some places I haven’t been yet, but there is one in particular that I think it’s time I went to.”

“Where would that be?”

“You know, there is only one state in America where I’ve never been to,” she said pointedly and Klaus wasn’t sure he was breathing. “And _someone_ once told me that he wanted to be the one to show me a city there, one that was filled with food, music, art, culture…” Caroline teased, “After we’re done with Italy, I was thinking that maybe… Maybe I could-“

“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.” Klaus interrupted her, his eyes closed as if he was scared that this was a dream, that he would open his eyes and she would be gone.

But she reached out to cup his face. She understood what it meant going to New Orleans, understood that he wouldn’t let her go after that, but- “I’m tired of saying goodbye to you. I’m tired of thinking of things I want to say to you, but I can’t, because you aren’t there. I’m tired of missing you. I had fun all these years, Klaus, and I needed them to understand myself, to understand my immortality, but I know what I want now. And I want you.”

Klaus stared at her for many moments, his electric blue eyes unreadable to her and his silence was deafening and uncomfortable and why couldn’t he just say something so that her heartbeat could return to normal?

“Are you sure?” his voice came out low, no more than a whisper. “There’s no escaping from this, Caroline. No escaping from me. Think carefully.”

She rolled his eyes at him and his warning. Wasn’t he aware that she knew him? That she knew what she was getting herself into?

“I am sure,” she told him firmly, taking a deep breath as mustered up all of her courage and said, “I love you. And I want to be with you.”

“Forever?” he asked, the word tinged with incredulity.

But her response was firm and reassuring as she stared into his eyes, trying to get him to understand that she truly meant it, that there would be no more goodbyes – “Forever.”

Klaus showed her all through the night just how grateful he was for that little word, how he cherished her loyalty. He worshipped her body like a temple; the strength of his devotion would never fade, never waver. She never belonged to anyone more than she belonged to him in that moment. He never gave himself to anyone the way he gave himself to her.

Forever was a promise, a contract sealed in blood that meant that their hearts would always be at each other’s mercy. And perhaps that should feel like a weakness, but each caress, each moan made it seem like a strength.

At dawn, their sweat-covered bodies were still tangled, desperately clinging to one another. And her consciousness was fading fast, but she could swear that she heard him whisper against her ear –

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you've enjoyed the gift :)


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